Resources, trends, and motivation to fulfill the Great Commission

free

We’ve talked previously about VSee, an alternative to Skype that seemed, at least in my informal testing, to be superior in call quality when you need to do multi-person video conferences. See our original discussion at…

“VSee uses end-to-end encryption where no server, including VSee servers, has the decryption key. VSee uses public/private RSA keys to exchange a 256-bit AES session key with the property that only the endpoints have the AES session key. VSee uses FIPS 140-2 certified 256-bit AES encryption.” He went on to test their service at some length and, at the end of the day, in several international video-conference tests, he, too, liked the outcome. About the security topic that he mentioned above, he added, “This is very significant. To my knowledge, no other video collaboration package offers this level of security. VSee looks like it might even be easy to use, which would be fantastic as well. I’m giving it a shot. The great thing is — it won’t set you back that much to try it. Though there are a few premium pieces you could choose to add for a price, the basic VSee service is free.

Are you planting among those with a Western worldview, particularly Americans and Canadians? Several Bible Study options are now available at no cost for church planters. The Spiritual Transformation Series is a 35-session series for relational small groups that use Bible Storying. “Catching Fire” is a 12-session study for new believers based on an oral T4T. “Church Ministries” and “Multiplying Disciples” are 8-session studies that establish the new plant. Just email your name, church name, location, and launch date. The curriculum is offered free to plants one year or younger. They’ll email you the studies in PDF files. Not a new church plant? These same resources and many others are available for purchase. Ask for a Storying Resource Guide by emailing Mark Snowden at

snowdenministriesgmailcom

Mark has been a Bible Storying trainer for 15 years and co-authored Truth That Sticks (NavPress) with the late Avery Willis.

Is it just me — or have you noticed lately that Skype video conferences seem to be dropping somewhat in quality? If you feel the same, would you be willing to try out this alternative service and give your feedback? The service is

We heard about it last week courtesy a very kind Mission Aviation Fellowship staffer. It’s completely free, allows peer to peer screen sharing and even webinar-like features such as screen sharing — so you can even allow someone remotely to work on your laptop, while you discuss it. Should be a great “poor man’s GoToMeeting.” Did I mention it’s completely free? :-) There are add-on premium services, but it looks as if they’re most relevant in enterprise settings. Granted, for larger webinars in which you want a special speaker to be able to address a group, Vsee doesn’t seem as appropriate (there’s no way to hush all the group members; they have to mute themselves). But for smaller get-togethers and prayer sessions, it seems like an answered prayer!

Struggling with an issue? Need some unbiased input? Give it a try for free before deciding to continue. Care Port Counseling provides online video counseling to people working abroad. After the first session, fees are still minimal (and negotiable). All you need is fairly high speed internet (for video streaming), Skype and a webcam. Services are provided by a licensed counselor with 10 years’ experience counseling missionaries. For questions or more info check out

Are you a short-term team leader or know someone going overseas? It’s common to hear Short-term missions participants ask about airline safety or terrorism yet be completely unprepared for those everyday risks which are hundreds of times more likely to happen to them. The new book, “The Top Three Risks When Traveling Overseas” is being offered free of charge courtesy of the folks at Good Neighbor Insurance. It was written to help prepare people for their overseas trip. Additional info can be found at

It is getting raves reviews and is complete with a daily Bible reading plans, dictionaries, and commentaries In addition it has articles from bible.org and 700 yrs of theological journals. It has a powerful search function where you can search articles, journals and the Bible for topics, words, phrases, and topics.

OMF International has designed this seminar to “Unlock the East Asian Diaspora.” Hear Carolyn Kemp and David Sorteberg (OMF International Directors of Diaspora Ministries) on February 4, 2012 (9:00 am-4:00 pm) at Granville Chapel (5901 Granville St, Vancouver, BC) at a free seminar with light lunch provided. For more information, email…

‘The Hope’ ESL version 3 includes extensive beginners’, intermediate and advanced sections, users’ handbook, updates and has instructions in English, Mandarin and Indonesian. To purchase the ‘The Hope ESL” version 3 DVD ROM, it is available from the following link:

That’s right. In the spirit of giving away education to the nations, Fuller Theological Seminary has now released the entire “Culture & Transformation” course online via iTunes. Yes, if you’re not an iTunes user already, you’ll have to download and install iTunes to listen, but it’s a free install and you can always uninstall it after you’re done, if you prefer. There are 22 lectures and, the truth is, this is really good stuff — especially for the price. (free) Check it out at:

(That link will ‘wrap’ to the next line. If you have trouble reassembling it and pasting it into your browser, just click to the link immediately below to find this item on the web at brigada.org. We’ll make sure it works there.) Chris, of the Halbert Institute for Missions at Abilene Christian University, thanks so much for this tip!

Catch that word, “Free,” but even their paid plans are fairly affordable. Either way, ScheduleOnce recently released a major upgrade to the ScheduleOnce service that turns ScheduleOnce into your go to application for all personal scheduling needs. With this new release, every user gets their own MeetMe page where people can see their availability and easily schedule time with them. The MeetMe page can be used to schedule Appointments, One on one meetings, Activities and Group meetings. Watch this quick video to learn more:

There are a couple of sites on the internet that have attempted to provide a means of telling your story via pictures and voice. Few have gained traction. Brigada participant, Phil, recently tipped us off to one which might be the game-changer. (Thanks Phil!) Check it out at…

It’s fast, responsive, and easy — and best of all, it’s free. You can tell your story with uploaded videos, webcam captures, voice memos via microphone, and even telephone. There are, of course, some limitations to the free account. You’ll be limited to just 3 Voicethreads, 30 minutes of video commenting, and a storage ceiling of 75MB with a filesize limit of 25MB. However, free is free. :-) Besides, the “pro” account gives you unlimited Voicethreads, unlimited video commenting, 10GB of storage and a 100MB filesize limit — and it costs just 59.95/year. Setting up an account is easy and doesn’t require verification. You’ll have your first online presentation in no time. You can even end your slide program with a sunset! :-)

In exchange for your on-line review posted within two months of the books arrival at your doorstep, the current (May/June) issue of Mission Frontiers offers a limited quantity of four great books shipped to your U.S. address:

Ask 2, 3, or 4 or more members to bring their laptops along to the planning session. The first guy sets up the “TypeWithMe” page, then sends the link to the others. Before you know it, you’ll all be typing together on the same webpage — and all for free! When you’re done, import or print the page, then produce as many others as you want.